Is it time you considered a digital detox?
For those of your who don’t know I have a background in IT. This means I am very comfortable with technology and love my smartphone. However I am for once a month to do a digital detox the reason is that I recognise that I live in an “always on” society. I am inundated on a daily basis with social media updates, text messages and emails. What’s worse are “always on” society ecpects us to be contactable at all times and to respond immediatley. Its no surprise that research has found a link between heavy smarphone usage and increased anxiety.
Did you know that smartphones are actually designed to distract us? They rob our brains of vitally important downtime preventing them from being creative. A digital detox allows my brain to reachage and focus on the present. No one needs to give you permission to go off grid for half a day and you don’t need to feel guilty either.
A digital detox can start simply as 45 minutes without using a smartphone, laptop, tablet or other device one evening a week and then build up slowly to a couple of hours. I find regular digital detox is hugely beneficial to my state of mind and can be easily incorporated into your routine.
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Bates Method – Part 2
In Part 1, I introduced the Bates Method. It was created as result of over three decades of clinic practice as an ophthalmologist. It is based on the theory that errors of focusing are temporary abnormalities which, due to the inability of the eyeball to change shape and when exposed to the healing powers of the body, can be reduced in severity or eliminated. While conventional wisdom is based on the work of Hermann von Helmholtz states that errors of focusing are due to the inability of the lens to change shape. Dr W H Bates postulated that focusing problems where the result of strain, either emotional or due to “trying” to see. The logical anti-dote to strain is rest, hence he developed palming a technique for resting the eyes. As I know lots of my readers spend long ours in front of computer screens which can strain the eyes. I wanted to share with you this simple version of palming.
- Cover your eyes with your cupped palms.
- Add a pillow under your elbows if more height is need to keep your back relaxed and straight.
- Breathe deeply while you palm for a few minutes.
More on building your resiliance
Following on from last week’s entry on building resilience, it is important to state that resilience don’t just help you manage stress but it fosters inner strength to help you meet goals, life challenges and achieve success. Most of my clients hold more or less physical tension which I would like you to think of as a bad habit that relaxation will help you break. Relaxation is like changing the idling speed on a car. When a car turns over too quickly, wasting expensive fuel and putting a strain on the engine, the mechanic can reset the idling speed to a much lower level. Similarly when busyness, concerns, time pressure have speeded us up too much, making us tense and irritable, we can learn how to let go and attain a much calmer state of being. So taking the time to learn what relaxes you! It is worth re-emphasising the point that it is possible to make an enormous difference to your state of mind through yoga, tai chi, relaxation and meditation and all other sorts of physical exercise. While most of celebrate our wins, it is also important to celebrate when we do good for others, as often other’s don’t notice. We all know life has its ups and downs, when your life is in turmoil, you may not do things "perfectly". Rather than worrying or simply surviving turmoil, why not ask what you can learn from the situation. But don’t beat yourself up, remember you always do your best, when you know better, you do better! One habit that I try to cultivate to help put a smile on my face especially when I am feeling down is to cultivate a gratitude attitude. However bad my day goes, before I got to sleep I try to think of three things that I am grateful for. These don’t need to be big things; it can be as simple as “I am grateful that the transport system ran on time” as I had a busy day. A gratitude attitude helps foster joy, fulfilment & peace of mind.
More of what can assist you with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
Following on from my previous tips, here are a few more:
- ICE - If your wrist feels inflammed (red, hot and swollen) then icing the area may assist you.
- Cupping - which is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In a trail of cupping therapy, whereby heated glass cups are applied to the skin to create suction and encourage energy flow in the body, the cupping group experienced a significant reduction in pain and other symptoms compared to the control group.
- Myofasical Release - Its a hands on therapy which uses manual pressure and stretching to release the faction to assist the carpal tunnel. In a study of four patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, all saw an improvement in both their symptoms and MRI scans after myofasical release treatment. Amanda Oswald, a leading myofascial therapsits has written a book with self-help fascial stretches for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Living Pain Free (published by Lotus Publishing in 2017).
